Alpha & Beta: The Journey Begins
by Judy O'Hara
Summary: Follow Stara and Luco as they begin their adventures in the Nuovo region. Capturing pokemon and making new friends along the way. (Read and Review )


**Chapter 1**

The girl with the bright pink hair turned, she'd thought she heard something rustle in the tall grass just off the path she was on. Curse the Professor for forgetting to pick up her package at the PokéMart. She jumped and leaned toward the other side when she heard the rustling again.

"Go away! I don't know what you are!" She yelled, waving her hand at the grass. To her surprise, a little blue and white ball of fluff wandered out and looked at her. It sat and stared up at her with its large deep green eyes.

"Paaaah?"

"Oh, it's a Pandis. I thought you were going to be something scary. I have to go now, Professor Lavendula is expecting me back soon." She smiled at the little Panda Pokémon and started to walk away. A sound made her pause and turn. Right behind her was the Pandis, eyes forward and following quietly. "What are you doing?"

"Dis...Pan pan~" It smiled at her and waited for Stara to start walking again. When she did, the Pandis followed her happily. "Dis~"

She looked at the Panda pokémon with mild wonder, "Are you just going to follow me around now?"

"Dis~ Pan~" It smiled brightly and kept at her heel as she made her way back into town.

* * *

"Ah, Stara. That was fast. Thank you for going to get that for me. It's a new pokéball that I wanted to have a look at. The Heartball is a new model that is supposed to make the pokémon caught with it like its trainer at a higher rate than normal." Professor Lavendula flicked her pale purple hair behind her ear. "I don't know if it really does that...but...Stara...why is there a Pandis behind you?"

The girl turned, hardly surprised to see it still beside her, "I don't know. It's been following me since I saw it on Route 1."

"I think that means it wants you to be its trainer. From what I can gather, that's even a shiny Pandis. It's very rare for someone to come across a white and blue one. You should keep him." The professor smiled and looked down at the Pandis that had stuck its paw into its mouth. The small Panda pokémon tilted its head and looked first at the pokémon professor then at Stara.

"Pan...?" The little pokémon picked up the empty Heartball and banged it on its own forehead. In a flash of pinkish colored hearts, the Pandis vanished into the rose hued ball.

"Hey! Professor...I'm here...what do ya want?" The tall brown haired boy said snidely as he walked into the lab. He stopped at the desk where the other two were standing, ignoring the other lab workers.

"Luco, Stara. I've asked you both to come here for a particular reason. In this region, there are many new and some undiscovered pokémon. I would like you two to go and study those pokémon for me. Each of you will get this new model of PokéDex. It comes equipped with a National registry. It also has a multi-caller video phone feature and a camera feature so you can take pictures." She handed a PokéDex to each of the trainers. "Now, you may each choose one of the Starter pokémon. I have here the Fire-types: Charmander, Cyndaquil, Torchic, Chimchar, Tepig, Fenniken and Capriflare. For the Grass-types, I have: Bulbasaur, Chikorita, Treeko, Turwig, Snivy, Chespin and Monleaf. Lastly for the Water-types, I have: Squirtle, Totodile, Mudkip, Piplup, Oshawott, Froakie and Watseal."

The two young trainers looked at her with wide eyes. It would be the beginning of their journeys as pokémon trainers, and neither one of them knew who they wanted to start their journey with. Luco looked like he was going to pass out, while Stara just stared ahead of her.

"So, you two may take some time to decide. As I'm sure you know, these pokémon may be rare, but all twenty-one of them can be found in the wild in Nuovo region." She smiled at them.

"I think...I think I'll have the Monleaf." Stara said slowly. She liked the little monkey-like pokémon. It was adorable, and reminded her almost of a Pansage. "Yeah. I think I'll take Monleaf."

"Good choice, Stara." Professor Lavendula pressed a few buttons on a computer and a white light shone over by a transfer machine. A few seconds went by and the machine dinged. "Here we are. One Monleaf. I hope you enjoy your time with it. Would you like to give your Monleaf a name?"

Stara thought for a few seconds, "No. I don't think I will. I like his name already." She picked up the pokéball it was in, and the Heartball from the floor and put them in her bag. It amazed her that the little pokémon in the Heartball had chosen her instead of the other way around.

"Eh, I'll take the Torchic. I like it." Luco said slowly, like he wasn't sure at all which one he wanted. Professor Lavendula punched in the code to transfer Torchic and waited for the machine to ding. "Thanks Professor."

"You're welcome. Would you like to name yours?"

"Nah."

The professor smiled, "Alright! I'm going to give each of you five pokéballs and 3,000 poké to get you started. Some quick tips before you go. When you come across a trainer, they may challenge you to a battle. Just do your best okay? You can find items outside, but without some device to locate them it will be a challenge. And to finish off the tutorial...your first gym is in Viona City!"

"Thanks Professor!" They both said at the same time as they turned to leave the Pokémon Laboratory.

* * *

"Hey Stara! How about you and me have a pokémon battle?" Luco said as he took a few steps past the doors. He smiled at her, pulling the pokéball from his pocket. The female trainer pulled her own Heartball from her bag.

"If you don't mind, I'm going to use my Pandis for the battle." She smiled back at him, pushing the button and releasing the Panda pokémon from the rosy colored orb.

Luco stared, "When did you catch that? And how did you get a Heartball? They are really rare!"

"Really, it caught me right before you came in...and the little devil stole the professor's pokéball off the table before I saw it." She looked down at the Pandis. "Okay...you know what? Tackle and Growl? Go after his Torchic with Tackle!"

The Torchic dodged and came back with one foot raised to use Scratch. Pandis almost dodged it, and took very little damage. Suddenly the little Panda pokémon reared back and bit down on the Torchic with amazing force. The Pandis did it again and the chick pokémon landed in the dust with a low thump. When the dust cleared, it was clear that the chick pokémon was out cold.

"I didn't know that my Pandis knew Bite!" Stara stared as the small shiny Panda pokémon toddled back over to where she was standing. "I didn't know they _could _know Bite..."

"That isn't that strange, they are a Dark-type. Bite's like the second move it learns. Still so awesome. I think I'm going to head off to the Pokémon Center though, and heal my Torchic up." Luco laughed. He waved as he started down the grass-lined path toward the center. Stara waved back. She would head toward the first Gym in Viona.

* * *

She pulled out the Town Map her mother had given her and checked it. If she wanted to get to Viona City, she'd have to go to the right when she reached the end of Route 1. To the left was Route 16, which was currently blocked off for construction. "To Route 2 it is."

Two steps in, and she heard the flapping of wings. A bright teal blue Peazen popped up out of nowhere and challenged her. "Zen! Peazen!"

"Go Monleaf!" She threw the pokéball out and watched as her little Grass-type monkey landed in the leaves. "Use Tackle!"

"Leaf!" He charged the Peazen and rammed into it with his head down. The Normal/Flying-type Peazen fell flat onto its backside and looked around for a second. It was dazed by the attack. Wasting no time at all, Stara threw one of her five pokéballs out at it. The pokémon disappeared in, and after ten seconds, there was a click and the ball stopped moving.

"Yes! We caught a Peazen. Now we have three pokémon! We can really get on our journey now!" She smiled and called her Monleaf back. Stara kept walking, thankful that the trail didn't go off into the grass again for a long while. By the time she made it to the end, there was just one small patch she had to cross to get into the next town. She had almost made it, when a high level Starly came after her.

"Go, Peazen!" She threw out her pokéball, delighted when the little peacock pokémon jumped up to fight. "Use Gust!"

The Peazen never stood a chance. The wild Starly used Aerial Ace and knocked her out on the first go. It flew away, not wanting to stick around for another battle against a weak pokémon. Stara picked up her Peazen, and made her way into the town to find the nearest Pokémon Center.


End file.
